Vintage Vibes While Very Caffeinated

May 07, 2018 • Joel Arndt

So many people braved the great Ontario Ice Storm of 2018 to cause a raucous at the Hamilton Conventions centre with us. Two events brought people into the same building, The Vintage Marketplace and the Hamilton Specialty Coffee Show. RELAY had a booth at both.

The Vintage Marketplace

Every year The Vintage Marketplace creates stylish shopping experience, gathering unique, lo-fi lifestyle vendors. They had everything you could want to enhance anything from your wardrobe, jewelry box, and living room vibe, to vinyl records, kitchenware, and antiques. It was a thrill to sit with different people of eclectic flavours. We enjoyed “roaring 20’s music” from The Vaudevillian and a good ol’ fashioned drag show.

Sierra worked both the Vintage Marketplace and the Specialty Coffee Show. She raved about the marketplace.

“It had a great vibe. I wandered around a little, but didn’t look too closely for fear of spending money I shouldn’t. From our booth, the entertainment was a highlight. The music was good and the drag show was impressive. I am slightly biased as one of the queens is a friend of mine.”

Hamilton Specialty Coffee Show

Of course, we weren’t about to miss a gathering of Hamilton’s coffee family. If you’ve spent any time in one of our shops, you know how much we love to talk about coffee. So imagine our exhilaration when we have two full days to go on and on with other coffee nerds.

Panels of coffee gurus talked roasting, tasting and sustainability. Latte art abounded. There was even a friendly latte art throw down. And then there were all of the brave people that we got to serve, who steeled themselves through the ice so they could let it all melt off with way too much caffeine.

Susie got a taste of both events, but what she said about the Coffee Show stuck out.

“I love how good coffee is now being appreciated the way fine wine is appreciated for all the subtle nuances and flavours. The Hamilton Coffee show did a great job at facilitating that appreciation and helping to educate people on the whole process coffee goes through from farm to cup, and why it tastes the way it does. It really highlighted the fact that Hamilton has a great coffee community. That's something to be proud of.”

Jason was impressed that so many people braved the weather.

“It’s great that people made it through the winter snow storm of April 2018. There were so many people, we ran out of mocha cold brew samples. It was great to learn from people who are doing awesome things with coffee in Hamilton. Mike and Sierra kicked a lot of ass when they were on the bar, working the Black Eagle espresso machine, making lattes, featuring our new Ratio and Yield blend. At the Vintage Market, we soft launched our baked goods, hinting towards launching that in may. The market had great style, fashion, and I loved DJ Donna LoveJoy.”

Two events, two different atmospheres, but all the fun in the world. For those of you we met at the shows, thanks for risking your life in the ice and sleet. We had a blast.